THE political war between Kaduna Governor Nasir Ahmed el-Rufai and
Senator Shehu Sani, assumed another dimension at the weekend with party
stake- holders, loyal to the governor, accusing Sani and his group of
plots to stoke the ember of religious violence in the state.
The intention of the group, Expdonaloaded blog’s investigations revealed, was to
distract the governor, and render him incapable of delivering on his
campaign promises to the people, as a prelude to seizing the political
space in Kaduna State, ahead of 2019 elections. Both el-Rufai and Sani
belong to the ruling All Progres- sives Congress, APC.
Amid the face-off, APC youths in the state, last week, joined the
fray describing Sani, as a noise maker who would not get their votes in
the 2019, should he decide to run for the governorship seat.
Supporters of Governor el-Rufai had alleged that Sani and his group
were out to unleash religious violence on the state. Led by a senior
government official (names withheld), the youths told Expdonaloaded blog at the
weekend that the recent press conference addressed by the Centrum
Initiative for Development and Fundamental Rights Initiative, CEDRA, was
allegedly bankrolled by Sani.
At the said conference, CEDRA, led by Dr. John Danfulani, a Christian
from Southern Kaduna had accused El-Rufai of marginalizing the people
of Southern Kaduna in the appointment of commissioners and other aides
in the state. The group, backing Sani also accused the governor of not
putting into consideration, the ethno -religious balance in the state by
retiring over 20 permanent secretaries in the state, recently.
According to the group, of the 13 Commissioners appointed in the
State, only four were Christians, and of the 18 remaining Permanent
Secretaries, only three are Christians. It added that “ among the most
senior and key officers of his administration, like Chief of Staff,
Principal Private Secretary and Secretary to the State Government, SSG,
none is a Christian, nor from Southern Kaduna.
“This lopsidedness in appointments is brewing hatred and further
polarising a very volatile State, like Kaduna that is known for
ethno-religious skirmishes.
“ I hope the party leadership in Abuja, will make hay while the sun
shines and arrest this drift, before the issue gets out of hand,” the
official added.
But Sani’s supporters fired back.
The Senator, who spoke through his Adviser on Politics and Ideology,
Suleiman Ahmed said: “What we always urge the state government to do is
to divorce itself from sponsoring thugs and hooligans to issue press
statement against some personalities in the State.
“Government should rather give the youths jobs to do, in- stead of using
them to attack stakeholders in the state…the youths who are claiming to
be defending the State governor are doing it at the detriment of them-
selves and the general society.”
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